Refrigerator and filler thereof

ABSTRACT

A filler to seal a gap between a plurality of doors is provided with a height adjustment portion, thereby enabling a height of the filler to be uniformly maintained regardless of deflection of the door. Accordingly, the filler may be smoothly operated regardless of deflection of the door, and cold air in a storage chamber may be prevented from escaping. The height adjustment portion has a truncated cone shape, and may be supported by a bottom surface of the storage chamber when the door is closed in a deflected state.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-112445, filed on Oct. 10, 2012 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The following description relates to a refrigerator having a plurality of rotating doors to open and close a storage chamber.

2. Description of the Related Art

A refrigerator is generally a home appliance which keeps food fresh by including a storage chamber to store the food and a cold air supply device to supply the storage chamber with cold air. The cold air supply device includes refrigeration units such as a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator, and produces the cold air using latent heat of a refrigerant.

The storage chamber is opened at a front portion thereof so as to put and take out the food, and the opened front portion may be opened and closed by a door. In this case, the storage chamber is also opened and closed by a plurality of doors which are hinge-coupled at and rotate about both left and right side portions of the storage chamber, without being provided therein with a separate vertical partition wall so as to increase a storage space of the storage chamber to the maximum.

In this case, any one of the plurality of doors is rotatably mounted with a filler to seal a gap which is defined between the plurality of doors in a state of closing the same. The filler is formed with a guide protrusion, and the guide protrusion may be inserted into a guide groove provided in a main body to move along the guide groove. The filler may rotate while the guide protrusion moves along the guide groove.

However, the guide protrusion of the filler may not be properly inserted into the guide groove or the filler is not smoothly operated when the door mounted with the filler is deflected due to a load of the door itself or a load of the food stored in a door pocket.

SUMMARY

Therefore, it is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide a refrigerator which includes a plurality of rotating doors to open and close a storage chamber and a filler to seal a gap between the plurality of rotating doors, and in which the filler is smoothly operated in spite of deflection of the door mounted with the filler.

Additional aspects of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a refrigerator includes a main body, a storage chamber defined within the main body, a first door which is rotatably coupled to one side portion of the main body so as to open and close a portion of the storage chamber, a second door which is rotatably coupled to the other side portion of the main body so as to open and close a remaining portion of the storage chamber, and a filler which is rotatably arranged at the first door so as to seal a gap between the first and second doors in a state of closing the first and second doors, and has a guide protrusion inserted into a guide groove provided at the main body to move along the guide groove, wherein the filler includes a height adjustment portion which increases a height of the filler so that the guide protrusion is able to be inserted into the guide groove when the first door is closed in a deflected state.

The height adjustment portion may be a protrusion which protrudes from a lower end portion of the filler.

When the first door is closed in a deflected state, the height adjustment portion may come into contact with a bottom surface of the storage chamber to thereby allow the height of the filler to be increased.

When the first door is closed in a non-deflected state, the height adjustment portion may not come into contact with a bottom surface of the storage chamber.

The height adjustment portion may have a truncated cone shape.

The height adjustment portion may include a flat surface at a center thereof, and an inclined surface formed around the flat surface.

The filler may include a heat insulator and a case receiving the heat insulator, and the height adjustment portion may be integrated with the case.

The height adjustment portion may be injection-molded with a resin material together with the case.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a refrigerator includes a main body, a storage chamber defined within the main body, a first door which is rotatably coupled to one side portion of the main body so as to open and close a portion of the storage chamber, a second door which is rotatably coupled to the other side portion of the main body so as to open and close a remaining portion of the storage chamber, a filler which is rotatably arranged at the first door so as to seal a gap between the first and second doors in a state of closing the first and second doors, and a height adjustment portion which protrudes from a lower end portion of the filler so as to be arranged between the storage chamber and a bottom surface of the storage chamber in a state of closing the first door.

When the first door is closed in a deflected state, the height adjustment portion may come into contact with the bottom surface of the storage chamber to thereby allow a height of the filler to be increased.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present disclosure, a filler, which is rotatably coupled to any one of a plurality of doors so as to seal a gap between the plurality of doors, includes a guide protrusion which is inserted into a guide groove provided at a main body to move along the guide groove, and a height adjustment portion which protrudes from a lower end portion of the filler so as to come into contact with a bottom surface of a storage chamber when the door coupled with the filler is closed in a deflected state.

The height adjustment portion may have a truncated cone shape.

The height adjustment portion may include a flat surface at a center thereof, and an inclined surface formed around the flat surface.

The filler may include a heat insulator and a case receiving the heat insulator, and the height adjustment portion may be integrated with the case.

The height adjustment portion may be injection-molded with a resin material together with the case.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects of the disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an inside of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining an operation of a filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a door and the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating a portion of the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a portion of the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view illustrating the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 7 is a view for explaining a function of a height adjustment portion of the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like components throughout.

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an inside of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a view for explaining an operation of a filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a refrigerator 1 includes a main body 10, storage chambers 20, 30 and 40 defined within the main body 10, and a cold air supply device (not shown) to supply the storage chambers 20, 30 and 40 with cold air.

The main body 10 includes an inner case 11 defining the storage chambers 20, 30 and 40, an outer case 12 which is coupled to the outer side portion of the inner case 11 to define an external appearance of the refrigerator 1, and a heat insulator which is disposed between the inner case 11 and the outer case 12 to insulate the storage chambers 20, 30 and 40.

The inner case 11 may be made of, for example, a resin material, and the outer case 12 may be made of, for example, a metal material to have durability and aesthetics. Urethane may be used as the heat insulator, and the heat insulator may be formed by injecting and then foaming and curing an undiluted urethane foam solution between the inner case 11 and the outer case 12 after coupling the same.

In another aspect, the main body 10 may include a top wall, a bottom wall, both side walls, a rear wall, and intermediate walls 50 and 60. The intermediate walls 50 and 60 may include a first intermediate wall 50 to partition an upper storage chamber 20 and an intermediate storage chamber 30, and a second intermediate wall 60 to partition the intermediate storage chamber 30 and a lower storage chamber 40. The intermediate walls 50 and 60 may include therein a heat insulator to insulate between the storage chambers 20, 30 and 40.

The storage chambers 20, 30 and 40 may be used as a freezing chamber to freeze and store food at approximately 20° C. below 0° C. and a refrigerating chamber to refrigerate and store food at approximately 0° C. to 3° C., respectively.

The storage chambers 20, 30 and 40 are opened at respective front portions thereof so as to put and take out the food, and the opened front portions may be opened and closed by doors 100, 200, 70 and 80. The upper storage chamber 20 may be opened and closed by a plurality of rotating doors 100 and 200, and the intermediate storage chamber 30 and the lower storage chamber 40 may be opened and closed by sliding doors 70 and 80, respectively. The upper storage chamber 20 may be provided therein with shelves 26 on which the food may be put, and sealing boxes 27 in which fish, vegetables, or the like are sealed and kept.

The rotating doors 100 and 200 may be rotatably hinge-coupled to the main body 10 by respective upper hinges 101 and 201 and respective lower hinges 102 and 202. In this case, the upper hinges 101 and 201 and lower hinges 102 and 202 may be respectively coupled to upper portions and lower portions of any side portions of the respective rotating doors 100 and 200 on the basis of central planes thereof.

Accordingly, the rotating doors 100 and 200 may rotate about rotation axes defined on the respective side portions on the basis of the central planes of the rotating doors 100 and 200, and may be supported by the respective upper hinges 101 and 201 and the respective lower hinges 102 and 202.

The rotating doors 100 and 200 may be mounted, on respective rear portions thereof, with door pockets 106 and 206 which may store the food. Specifically, the door pockets 106 and 206 may be mounted to respective dikes 110 and 210 protruding from the rear portions of the rotating doors 100 and 200.

The rotating doors 100 and 200 may be provided, at respective edge portions of the rear portions thereof, with gaskets 105 and 205 to seal between the respective rotating doors 100 and 200 and the main body 10. The gaskets 105 and 205 may be made of a soft material such as rubber, and may be provided therein with a magnet (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 1, the upper storage chamber 20 is not provided with a separate vertical partition wall, thereby enabling an inner space of the upper storage chamber 20 to be maximized. In addition, at least one door 100 of the plurality of rotating doors 100 and 200 is rotatably mounted with a filler 300 to seal a gap between the plurality of rotating doors 100 and 200 in a state of closing the same.

As a non-limiting example, the filler 300 is mounted to the left rotating door 100 in an embodiment of the present disclosure shown in FIG. 1, but the embodiment of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the filler 300 may be mounted to the right rotating door 200 or at least one of the plurality of rotating doors.

In this case, the filler 300 may be rotatably mounted to the left rotating door 100 through a coupling bracket 400. The coupling bracket 400 may include a dike coupling portion 410 which is fixed to the dike 110 of the left rotating door 100, and a filler coupling portion 420 which extends from the dike coupling portion 410. The filler 300 may be rotatably coupled to the filler coupling portion 420 of the coupling bracket 400.

Meanwhile, the main body 10 is provided with a guide portion 90 to rotate the filler 300, and the guide portion 90 may include a guide body 91 and a guide groove 92 formed within the guide body 91. The guide portion 90 may be arranged at an upper end portion of the upper storage chamber 20.

The filler 300 may include a guide protrusion 350 which is inserted into the guide groove 92 of the main body 10 to move along the guide groove 92. The guide protrusion 350 may be arranged at an upper end portion of the filler 300 so as to correspond to the guide groove 92.

Accordingly, the filler 30 may rotate in one direction so as to be tightly pressed against the gaskets 105 and 205 of the plurality of rotating doors 100 and 200 during closing of the left rotating door 100, whereas the filler 30 may rotate in the other direction so as not to interfere with the right rotating door 200 during opening of the left rotating door 100.

Meanwhile, the sliding doors 70 and 80 may be slidably coupled to the main body 10 by sliding devices 71 and 81. Respective rear portions of the sliding doors 70 and 80 may be provided with baskets 72 and 82.

The cold air supply device may include a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator, a refrigerant tube, a blowing fan, and the like, and produce cold air through circulation of a refrigeration cycle of compressing, condensing, expanding, and evaporating a refrigerant.

Since the above-mentioned rotating door 100 to open and close the upper storage chamber 20 is supported by the hinges 101 and 102 coupled to respective parts of one side portion of the door 100 on the basis of the central plane thereof, a phenomenon may be caused which is deflected downwards at side portions opposite to the hinges 101 and 102 on the of the central plane L of the door 100 by a load of the door 100 itself or a load of food stored in the door pocket 106 according to use of the refrigerator for long periods of time.

Since the filler 300 mounted to the rotating door 100 is also lowered in height when the deflection of the door is caused, a phenomenon may consequently be generated in which the guide protrusion 350 of the filler 300 is not inserted into the guide groove 92 of the main body 10. Therefore, the filler 300 may not be smoothly operated and the storage chamber 20 may not be sealed.

In order to prevent such a situation, the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present disclosure has a structure to adjust a height of the filler 300, which allows the height of the filler 30 to be uniformly maintained regardless of deflection of the door 100.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating the door and the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating a portion of the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a portion of the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1. FIG. 6 is an exploded view illustrating the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1. FIG. 7 is a view for explaining a function of a height adjustment portion of the filler in the refrigerator of FIG. 1. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the left rotating door 100 is simply referred to as “a door 100” and the upper storage chamber 20 is simply referred to as “a storage chamber 20”.

Referring to FIGS. 3 to 7, the filler 300 of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a height adjustment portion 380 to uniformly maintain the height of the filler 30 regardless of deflection of the door 100.

The height adjustment portion 380 may be a protrusion which protrudes from a lower end portion of the filler 300. The height adjustment portion 380 may come into contact with a bottom surface 21 (see FIG. 7) of the storage chamber 20 when the door 100 is closed in a deflected state, whereas the height adjustment portion 380 may not come into contact with the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber 20 when the door 100 is closed in a non-deflected state.

Accordingly, when the door 100 is closed in the deflected state, the height adjustment portion 380 may be pressed from the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber 20 while coming into contact with the same.

The height of the filler 300 may be increased by pressing the height adjustment portion 380 from the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber 20, and the guide protrusion 350 of the filler 300 may be easily inserted into the guide groove 92 of the main body 10.

In this case, only the filler 300 may be lifted without lifting of the door 100 when they are somewhat loosely coupled to each other, whereas the door 100 and the filler 300 may be simultaneously lifted when they are securely coupled to each other.

When only the filler 300 is lifted without the lifting of the door 100, a relatively small load may be applied to the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber. On the other hand, when all of the door 100 and the filler 300 are simultaneously lifted, a relatively large load may be applied to the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber, but a difference in height between the plurality of doors 100 and 200 may be resolved.

This height adjustment portion 380 may generally have a truncated cone shape. Accordingly, the height adjustment portion 380 may have a flat surface 381 at a center thereof, and an inclined surface 382 formed around the flat surface 381.

When the door 100 is closed in the deflected state, the inclined surface 382 collides with a front end portion of the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber, thereby enabling the filler 300 to be lifted. When the filler 300 is fully lifted, the flat surface 381 is pressed against the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber, thereby being able to be stably supported by the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 6, the filler 300 may be formed by assembling cases 310 and 320, a heat insulator 330, and a metal plate 340.

The cases 310 and 320 include a first case 310 and a second case 320. Each of the first case 310 and the second case 320 may be injection-molded with a resin material.

The first case 310 may be provided with a bracket coupling portion 311 to which the coupling bracket 400 may be coupled. The first case 310 may be coupled with the guide protrusion 350.

The heat insulator 330 serves to thermally insulate the cold air within the storage chamber 20. The heat insulator 330 may be arranged in a space defined between the first and second cases 310 and 320. The heat insulator 330 may be assembled between the first and second cases 310 and 320 after urethane is pre-foamed.

The metal plate 340 may be coupled to an outer side portion of the second case 320. Magnetic force of magnets (not shown) included in the gaskets 105 and 205 of the doors 100 and 200 may be applied to the metal plate 340. Thus, the filler 300 may be pressed against the doors 100 and 200.

The metal plate 340 may be coupled, at respective upper and lower end portions thereof, with an upper sealing member 360 and a lower sealing member 370 which may seal gaps between the filler 300 and the main boy 10. A heating element (not shown) to prevent dew formation may be arranged between the metal plate 340 and the second case 320.

Meanwhile, the height adjustment portion 380 may be formed at a lower end portion of the first case 310, as shown in FIG. 6. The height adjustment portion 380 may be injection-molded integrally with the first case 310 with a resin material. In this case, since the inner case of the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber is also made of a resin material as described above, the height adjustment portion 380 and the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber are all made of a resin material, thereby enabling friction noise to be reduced.

However, unlike the above configuration, the height adjustment portion 380 may be provided separately from the cases 310 and 320 to be assembled to the same.

Therefore, the filler 300 of the refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes the height adjustment portion 380 to uniformly maintain the height of the filler 300, therefore, the filler 300 may be smoothly operated regardless of deflection of the door 100.

Furthermore, since the height adjustment portion 380 may be integrally formed during molding of the case 310 of the filler 300 and be supported by the bottom surface 21 of the storage chamber 20 without a separate support, the height of the filler 300 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may be easily adjusted.

As is apparent from the above description, a filler may be maintained at a proper height in spite of deflection of a door. Accordingly, in spite of the deflection of the door, the filler may be smoothly operated and cold air in a storage chamber may be prevented from escaping.

In addition, height adjustment of the filler may be easily realized through a relatively simple shape of the filler, not through a complex machine.

Although a few embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A refrigerator comprising: a main body; a storage chamber defined within the main body; a first door which is rotatably coupled to one side portion of the main body so as to open and close a portion of the storage chamber; a second door which is rotatably coupled to the other side portion of the main body so as to open and close a remaining portion of the storage chamber; and a filler which is rotatably arranged at the first door so as to seal a gap between the first and second doors in a state of closing the first and second doors, and has a guide protrusion inserted into a guide groove provided at the main body to move along the guide groove; wherein the filler comprises a height adjustment portion which increases a height of the filler so that the guide protrusion is able to be inserted into the guide groove when the first door is closed in a deflected state.
 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the height adjustment portion is a protrusion which protrudes from a lower end portion of the filler.
 3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein, when the first door is closed in the deflected state, the height adjustment portion comes into contact with a bottom surface of the storage chamber to thereby allow the height of the filler to be increased.
 4. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein, when the first door is closed in a non-deflected state, the height adjustment portion does not come into contact with a bottom surface of the storage chamber.
 5. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the height adjustment portion has a truncated cone shape.
 6. The refrigerator according to claim 5, wherein the height adjustment portion comprises a flat surface at a center thereof, and an inclined surface formed around the flat surface.
 7. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein: the filler comprises a heat insulator and a case receiving the heat insulator; and the height adjustment portion is integrated with the case.
 8. The refrigerator according to claim 7, wherein the height adjustment portion is injection-molded with a resin material together with the case.
 9. A refrigerator comprising: a main body; a storage chamber defined within the main body; a first door which is rotatably coupled to one side portion of the main body so as to open and close a portion of the storage chamber; a second door which is rotatably coupled to the other side portion of the main body so as to open and close a remaining portion of the storage chamber; a filler which is rotatably arranged at the first door so as to seal a gap between the first and second doors in a state of closing the first and second doors; and a height adjustment portion which protrudes from a lower end portion of the filler so as to be arranged between the filler and a bottom surface of the storage chamber in a state of closing the first door.
 10. The refrigerator according to claim 9, wherein, when the first door is closed in a deflected state, the height adjustment portion comes into contact with the bottom surface of the storage chamber to thereby allow a height of the filler to be increased.
 11. A filler which is rotatably coupled to any one of a plurality of doors so as to seal a gap between the plurality of doors, the filler comprising: a guide protrusion which is inserted into a guide groove provided at a main body to move along the guide groove; and a height adjustment portion which protrudes from a lower end portion of the filler so as to come into contact with a bottom surface of a storage chamber when the door coupled with the filler is closed in a deflected state.
 12. The filler according to claim 11, wherein the height adjustment portion has a truncated cone shape.
 13. The filler according to claim 12, wherein the height adjustment portion comprises a flat surface at a center thereof, and an inclined surface formed around the flat surface.
 14. The filler according to claim 11, wherein: the filler comprises a heat insulator and a case receiving the heat insulator; and the height adjustment portion is integrated with the case.
 15. The filler according to claim 14, wherein the height adjustment portion is injection-molded with a resin material together with the case. 